Astrid leads me into a room full of balloons and streamers. My eyes wander about the decorated room, intrigued by the transformation. The usually drab and boring interior of the main hall had been dolled up with blue and silver.

Voices ring out in greeting, all yelling their own form of 'congratulations'. I struggle to look through the mass of excited people in front of me, a large smile on my face. Once the group thins a little, I'm able to see a banner on the back wall with my new name on it.

Dr. Serina Barringer M.D.

My cheeks heat up in an odd form of embarrassment; this was all too much. I tighten my hold on Astrid's hand and cover my growing smile. "How? When?"

Everyone laughs at me a moment before Will begins to explain. "We started setting up about six hours ago," He reaches behind Leon, who stands to his left, and pulls a single pale girl to the front. "Plus, this one found us plenty of help."

Rose blushes and waves him off. "It was nothing," Now free of Will's grasp, Rose moves forward and sets a hand on my arm. "Everyone that had the day off from the infirmary was more than willing to lend a hand."

Everything is silent, quiet music playing in the background, as we hold still, almost lost in the excitement of it all. That is until my brain turns back on and I do the math. "Wait, six hours?" I look between the faces closest to me and frown. "I only got my results an hour ago. Hell, I was still taking the test six hours ago!"

Another round of laughter paired with a few solid shoves in all directions by numerous hands makes me dizzy. "You're the only one that doubted you'd pass," Lorna speaks loudly before being drowned out by a wave of cheering.

The next thing I know, a new body is pushing its way to the front of the crowd. The shifting gives me a moment to close my eyes and gain my bearings. "All right, everyone, stop crowding and enjoy!" When I open my eyes, I see Raiden wave everyone away and the mass begins to break off and migrate. It reminds me of when emboli break off of a main thrombus and start to move through the circulatory system.

My mind, still stuck in doctor-brain, is pulled from thoughts of blood clots when I notice Raiden hasn't left my side. When I look up at him, his face is lax in a new configuration of flexed and relaxed muscles that I haven't seen before. The zygomaticus major is contracted but it's different, his usual smiles are tight, cocky in nature, as if he knew something that nobody else did. But this, this was more relaxed, like he wasn't aware of the action and it simply happened naturally. Then there was the corrugator muscle, his usually sat in a relaxed position, never contracting and furrowing his brow unless he was deep in thought, but it now sat a little tighter than normal now. ­What was he thinking about?

"Raiden, why are you looking at me like that?"

His expression resets, returning to its normal state after a split-second of surprise. "Like what?"

I open my mouth to speak but he shakes his head and speaks before I can. "You know what? It doesn't matter; there's something you need to see." I close my lips and look at him closely. What are you hiding? "Come on," He says as he grabs my hand.

I walk a step behind him, staring at my hand in his. It was one thing to walk around, hand clasped with Astrid; the girl was as close to a sister as it got. This wasn't expected and it felt...odd. His skin is rough from years of handy work, and warm—good circulation—although, men usually have warmer extremities than women to begin with.

When we stop, we're in a different room but still close enough to hear the music playing in the lobby. I pull my eyes from our hands and look forward only to gasp and feel the unfamiliar sting of tears. "Dr. Barringer," Jada grins widely at me from Shawn's side through an immaculate hologram.

I scan the lengths of their bodies, the full-length scanner projecting them directly in front of me. It's been too long since I've spoken with them, a particularly strong solar flare keeping most communication in the A1 system restricted to within its borders. I struggle to come up with something to say, so I just look at Raiden and hope he'll understand my questioning gaze.

He chuckles softly and looks up at the ceiling. "See that?" I follow his gaze and see a small clear disc with a light set flush into the ceiling. "It's a compact version of the units in a communication hub. This is just the first, I plan to put more throughout the main hall and around the colony as well as maybe make a set building just for communications with other planets."

I'm captivated by the little miracle; such a small device to do so much. "That's amazing." I'm in utter awe at the potential that this one device has and what it could mean as far as trade with other planets goes. When I look at Raiden to thank him, I'm stopped by the shine in his eyes as he gazes at the disc, proud of his work.

There's a clearing of a throat that pulls us both back to reality; Raiden from his work, and me from him. I smile at Jada and tell my body it's okay to breathe again. "I should let you talk to your family, come join us all when you're ready."

I nod, throat tight, and feel his hand leave mine as he walks away. He's about to exit the room when I can finely speak. "Thank you, Rai." He glances back briefly to send me a grin before he disappears down the hall.

I roll my shoulders back and look at the hologram. When I look at Shawn and Jada, I take a step back, the intensity of their gazes too much. Jada holds her clasped hands up by her face, looking as if she'll explode with excitement. And...then there's Shawn. His arms are crossed with an expression a mix of disappointment and frustration.

"Uh...what?" I right my footing and look between the two of them, waiting for some form of explanation.

There's a lack of words between the three of us so long that Jada not-so-subtly elbows Shawn in the side, obviously wanting him to speak up. When he continues with his silent irritation, Jada huffs and turns a smile in my direction. "I, personally, am glad that you've found someone, even if not all parties in the room are."

I shoot her a confused look and glance behind me. When I see no one there, I cross my arms and frown at her. "I don't understand."

She sighs. "Dear Lord, is this family blind to love?" She sets a hand to her forehead and groans. "My girl, I am simply happy that you've found a nice man to be with."

"Serina Marie, I know you've had a past, but I thought you would've waited longer than this to 'satisfy your soul'." Shawn's frustrated tone is like jagged glass to my senses and his use of the Aorian explanation of sex freezes my blood.

"Excuse me?" I ball my hands into fists and rest them on my hips. "First of all, I'm twenty-one, I can make decisions for myself. Second of all," I make eye contact with them both and hope I won't have to repeat myself. "I haven't 'found' anyone. I'm as single and independent as I have been since leaving Aoria."

Jada hums as they share a glance. "Right,"

They stare at each other, seeming to speak telepathically with only minor changes in their expressions. When they turn back to me, Shawn sighs and speaks. "Listen, you can't fault us for thinking and being wrong. She's an optimist and a die-hard romantic. As for me...well, you have to admit you've had your share of...conquests."

I scoff at his prudishness and cross my arms again. "Listen, I was a kid."

"You still are a kid." His voice takes an unexpected edge which pulls me to my own.

"Yeah, well, you're still too young to have the whole disappointed-dad look, yet that's written all over your face right now!"

The sudden change in volume and my words shock Shawn out of his tunnel-vision and he frowns, guilt lining his features. "You're right, I'm sorry. This was all so we could congratulate you on passing your registry and I went all 'overprotective-brother' on you."

I work to keep my frown on my face, but after looking into his eyes, my lips flip into a smile; I always either forgive him or hang up after getting too angry, a slave to my recently thawed emotions. Besides, I was still on the after-high of getting the results of the test, there wasn't much that could sour my mood for long.

"It's okay, now explain: why haven't you told me about you two being together yet?"

They both pale and I laugh at their struck faces. When Shawn begins to blubber, not finding coherent words to string together, I hold up my hands to stop him from talking. "I had my suspicions when Jada answered the phone when I called to tell you about being an elder and she already knew who I was. It was pretty obvious after speaking to you two in the time since then and I've just been waiting for you to say something." I raise a brow and point a finger towards the hologram. "Since you two thought it was a good idea to question my love life, I think it's an adequate time to bring yours up."

"It's—"

"Well—"

They start to speak over each other, and I can't piece together a thing they say. Once they've stopped, I squint at them. "What?"

Jada frowns and drops her head. "We haven't been very open to the other people in our colony. We've kept it a secret because most would see it as inappropriate."

"Why?"

"Because I'm one of the three elders here, Serina." Jada looks around, most likely ensuring that nobody was around on their end to overhear the conversation.

"And?"

"Rina, this colony was started on very different terms than yours was," Shawn speaks up this time.

"One of the other elders, a man, is from Aubos."

My face twists in disgust; simply thinking of Aubos makes me want to punch then next male I see. "They are so barbaric; I can't believe some of the ways they punish women for simply living."

"That's my point, Serina. He has turned many of the colonists, mostly men, to understand Aubos' ways and culture and has even tried to implement them here." Her voice cracks and Shawn sets a hand behind her shoulder. "The other elder, Henry, is the only reason I haven't been completely stripped of my title. He's from the Prime System so he understands that women can do good in the galaxy. I guess my main fear is that if word got out, then Adrian will use this as the final nail in the coffin."

Despite understanding her fears, I snort at this. "It's not like lead geologist is anything to spit at either. Shawn would be what, one caste below you if you were on Aubos?"

"To Adrian, anything below is too much. He expects me to marry either him or Henry or stay a spinster my entire life."

I start to chew on my bottom lip, gears turning. "You know what? Give me a few days, I'll come up with something."

"Serina, you don't—"

"No, I don't, but I will. End of discussion."

Jada's eyes start to water, and she nods, unable to speak.

The sound of something crashing in the next room over pulls my eyes to the hallway. The number of things that could've been, not to mention the number of people that could've been, brings upon the start of a stress migraine.

"It sounds like you're missing quite the party." Shawn grins at me and I shake my head, ready to protest. "No, we've kept you long enough. Go, enjoy yourself, you've worked too hard not to. We can talk tomorrow."

My response is a silent grin and a shared glance between them. "Love you, brother."

"I love you too, Spongy."

The last image of their smiling faces freezes in the air for a moment before the hologram turns off. The room, while lit with overhead light, seems substantially darker now that the hologram is off.

Taking a cleansing breath, I ignore the loneliness of the empty room and prepare myself for the wild environment I'm about to enter. Once in the entryway of the lobby, I stand back and watch as things unfold.

On the far end of the room, Lorna and Leon hover around the table of food, some snack in their hands at all times while they talk to other party-goers. After watching them for a moment, I find that this was strategic. Whenever they need a second or two more to think of a response to something said, they would take a small bite to avoid having to speak right away. It took a while to piece that little trick together, but after knowing Lorna and her 'thinking' face—if it can be called that considering her expressions don't typically change much—I can see the quick change of her brows falling low and her lips twisting as she bites her cheek just milliseconds before she takes a small bite of whatever is in her hand and her expression returns to normal. From there, I could only assume that she told Leon the little trick; as sad as it is to say, the poor guy is simply too honest and sweet to have come up with the idea himself.

I look away from the strategic speakers with a smile and glance towards the center of the room. There's a cluster of people, colors of all occupations—including the GTA officers—moving around each other. On the occasion that I see any of the other elders out there, I watch them as long as I can. Of course, it's a little difficult between all the bodies. People along the edges walkabout, mingling with those around them. Those left were all moderately dancing and adjusting as the music changed. Will and Astrid stayed near the border, not wanting to be sucked into the wild center of the group. They didn't move much, they just stood together, Astrid's arms around Will's neck and his arms around her waist, swaying as they spoke no matter what happened in the background. They looked sweet, like they were enjoying the time to simply get to know each other in a neutral environment. They were the polar opposite to Elena and Jax. I often found myself laughing when I was able to catch glimpses of those two. They both moved with the music and their energy was contagious. Elena would often grab the hands of anyone next to her and jump around, singing along with the music until the person she was with was smiling ear-to-ear with laughter on their tongue. Jax wasn't much different from his partner in crime. The joker in him drove him to do the stupidest things in pursuit of other people's happiness. It truly didn't matter what he did, it was crazy and made people, including myself, smile.

The last group I analyze is a group of my peers. There's a small mass of blue along the wall to my right and I hold back a snort of laughter as I watch them speak amongst themselves. I watch them congregate together with a small smile and the pride of a mother hen; they were my people and I was happy for each and every one of them. However, I was most proud of two particular people: Rose and Rylan. Those two were the closest people I had in the infirmary. Rose had become like family, like the dependable cousin I never had growing up. Then there was Rylan, the man had the steadiest hands in the field, and he was a shoo-in for a surgical position if I've ever seen one. It was a shame he wanted to apply to the guard during the next draft.

I've accounted for almost everyone in the room but still hadn't found Raiden. Sweeping my gaze around the room again, I comb through each body, looking for the tall man with dark blue eyes.

"Looking for anyone in particular?" Raiden finds his way to my side without me having seen him; the man seems to have a talent for showing up whenever he's thought of.

He holds out a flute of champagne and I gladly take it, only half wishing it was something stronger. "You, actually." He raises an eyebrow at this, and I shake my head. "Don't get too excited, I just wanted to talk to you about the communications disc you made."

He chuckles and nods, taking a sip of his drink. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything," I turn to fully face him and lean back against the wall. "Have you sent the schematics to Galactic Intelligence yet? Have you copyrighted it? Come up with a name? Thought of production and trade? What about—"

"Rina," He sets a hand on my shoulder and cuts me off. He flashes his teeth with a smile and looks me in the eye. "You realize I can only answer one question at a time, right?"

I shake off his hand and roll my eyes. "That's completely inaccurate but I'm in a good mood so I'll let it slide. Now, have you sent the blueprints to Galactic Intelligence?"

"I haven't," Raiden sends me a pointed look when I open my mouth to protest, so I keep quiet and wait for his explanation. "There's a small group of other engineers that helped me out, we're sorting out the last of the details and will then send GI all of the specifics."

He then looks out at the room and I follow his gaze to a few black-shirts speaking to Leon. There's three of them: one that I don't recognize, one I know the face of but not the name, and the last was Amy. It's impossible to tell what they're talking about, but just seeing her smile and continue on strong lifts my spirits.

"How is she?" Names don't need to be mentioned for him to understand that I was asking about Amy; he knew that I've been worried about her since her pregnancy had been discovered.

"She's doing as well as she can. Nobody has said anything about her being stuck with the design team, although, I'm sure the sudden protectiveness a few of us have shown her helps keep the negative comments away." We share a knowing grin. We may be the only two elders that know about her situation, but I'm sure just the idea of getting on the bad side of the man in charge of keeping buildings intact and the woman in charge of keeping people intact sets people on the course of silence.

"Good," I bump his shoulder with my free hand, catching his gaze again. "Thought of a name yet?"

"A few,"

I wait for him to elaborate but he doesn't say anything further and it doesn't seem like he will. "And? Are you going to tell me them?"

He cocks his head to the side, eyes narrowed as he thinks about it. "Mmm...no."

My eyes narrow, but I can't hold it against him; if he wants to keep them to himself, he can. "What about production and profit? Surely, you've thought of the value it has. This could be our ticket to galactic trade."

"Of course," He downs the rest of his drink and nods for me to follow him. "With this, we would definitely have something to get our foot in the door with the other planets. We'll just have to find a decent time to announce the product to the galaxy once all the logistics are finalized with GI."

"That's good to know. What about marketing? You should probably rope in Elena soon."

"Serina?"

Sipping my drink, I look at him and raise my eyebrows. "Hmm?"

"You're supposed to be enjoying a party, not planning for the future." I roll my eyes and polish off my drink. "Take a break for the night, will you?"

He holds out a small plate with a slice of cake on it and a fork. I slowly take it from him and click my tongue. "You do realize I haven't even seen the cake yet, right? Haven't blown out the candles?"

He glances at the plate in my hand for a moment before waving his hand. "It's not your birthday, you don't need candles. Besides," He points down at the cake and I can see that it's already half gone. "A few people have already gotten drunk enough to forget about you and started eating it."

Unable to stop the chuckle that comes to the surface, I fall into a fit of laughter. It was nothing overly funny, but I found the simple fact that people were enjoying themselves enough to dig straight into the cake humerus. "I hope they enjoyed it." My voice, having come out without even a hint of sarcasm, seems to have surprised Raiden; he looked utterly shocked.

I scoop up a bit of the cake onto my fork and take a sizeable bite. I close my eyes and start a little dance, a simple swaying of my hips and shoulders, savoring the rich chocolate flavor. When I open my eyes, Raiden stares down at me, confused. "What?" I speak around the cake as best I can, unashamed to talk with my mouth full.

"You're just...acting weird."

With a small laugh, I close my eyes again and resume the little dance. "Embrace it, my friend, it's the sass leaving my body. Interrupt my good mood and the next time you leave the infirmary, it'll be feet first in a black bag."